The Republic of Xinjiang

Origins

After the collapse of central Chinese power in the 1930s and the endless war between communists and nationalists, the distant region of Xinjiang became practically cut off from the rest of the country. There, a local warlord, General Ma Chengkai, established the Republic of Xinjiang in 1934 — a hybrid state between personal dictatorship, modern feudalism, and military lordship.

Unlike other Chinese warlords, Ma Chengkai managed to consolidate a relatively stable regime thanks to three factors:

• Direct control over the Silk Road and trade with Central Asia.
• Loyal troops composed of Uyghur clans and Hui Muslim fighters.
• A pragmatic policy of alliances with the Soviets, the British, and the Germans.

Armed Neutrality and the German Connection

Although officially Xinjiang never joined the Axis, in 1941 Ma’s regime signed a secret agreement with Germany. Berlin supplied surplus military equipment from European fronts:

• Karabiner 98k rifles and MG 34 machine guns.
• Light armored vehicles: Panzer I and Czech-built Panzer 38(t).
• Second-line aircraft such as the Heinkel He 111 and retired Bf 109E fighters.
• 75 mm field artillery and PaK 36 anti-tank guns.

For Germany, Xinjiang was a “peripheral” partner: not an official ally, but a useful foothold in Central Asia to monitor the Soviet Union from the south and to open routes toward India and China.

The Asian Balance Zone

Ma Chengkai understood that his small state could not survive in isolation. He therefore promoted the creation of a neutral regional bloc: the Asian Balance Zone, composed of:

• Tibet: under the Dalai Lama, seeking to remain independent from the Chinese Civil War.
• Nepal: ruled by the Rana dynasty; officially a British ally but quietly maintaining ties with Xinjiang.
• Bhutan: a mountain kingdom that saw Ma Chengkai as a shield against Chinese and Indian ambitions.

The alliance was more symbolic than military, but it had a clear function: to offer a third way against the pressures of the USA in India, the USSR in the north, and the Chinese Civil War in the east. Xinjiang acted as the “big brother” and armed wing of the group, with the doctrine of defending the mountains and skies of Central Asia.

Legacy

The Republic of Xinjiang was seen as an anachronism: the last warlord stronghold in a world moving toward modern empires and global ideologies. Yet under Ma Chengkai, it became a symbol of peripheral resistance and military pragmatism: soldiers parading in patched-up Chinese uniforms, carrying surplus rifles from the Reich, and planes marked with Xinjiang’s blue sun soaring over the Taklamakan skies.